Nightclub guards to be probed by top official
Swedish nightclub bouncers are to be investigated by a top legal official over concerns that they are often excessively violent.
Göran Lambertz, Sweden's Chancellor of Justice, is also due to look at how police react when nightclub security staff report problems with disruptive customers.
Lambertz, who is the government's most senior legal advisor, decided to examine the practices of bouncers after receiving indications that many routinely use excessive force and that innocent members of the public are harmed by their actions.
"There have been a number of indications that certain nightclub bouncers are unsuitable, that they get involved unnecessarily or use excessive force and then blame it on the customers. It appears to be common that when customers report them to the police, they make a counter accusation of violent resistance," Lambertz wrote in Wednesday's Dagens Nyheter.
"When such incidents come before the courts, the bouncer often has an advantage, and is almost always believed," he continued.
The investigation will ask whether police are unduly trusting of security guards and whether inappropriate loyalty to bouncers affects how they act when called to intervene in an argument.
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Göran Lambertz, Sweden's Chancellor of Justice, is also due to look at how police react when nightclub security staff report problems with disruptive customers.
Lambertz, who is the government's most senior legal advisor, decided to examine the practices of bouncers after receiving indications that many routinely use excessive force and that innocent members of the public are harmed by their actions.
"There have been a number of indications that certain nightclub bouncers are unsuitable, that they get involved unnecessarily or use excessive force and then blame it on the customers. It appears to be common that when customers report them to the police, they make a counter accusation of violent resistance," Lambertz wrote in Wednesday's Dagens Nyheter.
"When such incidents come before the courts, the bouncer often has an advantage, and is almost always believed," he continued.
The investigation will ask whether police are unduly trusting of security guards and whether inappropriate loyalty to bouncers affects how they act when called to intervene in an argument.
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